LESS THAN 1/10 OF 1%
Lehman, Senator Herbert H.
Less Than 1/10 of 1% DP's Refused Entry Are Hardly a Numerical Problem By SENATOR HERBERT H. LEHMAN ONE OF THE GREATEST human and moral problems of the 20th century, created by World War II,...
...Further proof of the good record of the Displaced Persons came from the practically unanimous reports of Governors and other responsible public officials...
...THE PROPONENTS of this liberalized legislation are certain that the few additional Displaced Persons admitted under the proposed new provisions would not endanger our economy or our society...
...Have they been properly placed in our comunities...
...The worth and dignity of the human soul cannot be compressed into a decimal point...
...The Displaced Persons had somehow to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and protected against the day when they could return at last to their native lands or be resettled elsewhere...
...These agencies embrace practically every major religious belief and every important immigration aid agency in the United States...
...And little Israel, the youngest and weakest state of all, had admitted 129,800...
...Our regular immigration quotas were so geared that relatively few Displaced Persons could enter...
...only about 35,000 Jews remain in the DP camps today...
...Australia had taken 104,000...
...Are they adjusting themselves economically, socially, fraternally, and for the better...
...After a long delay, a special law, the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, was finally passed...
...Thii can be done by supporting and enacting the minority substitute measure...
...But some were not able to go back...
...I need not elaborate upon the defect...
...This is an incontrovertible fact and cannot be denied...
...Our victory in World War II brought an end to their existence as slaves and set them free...
...All the major religious and welfare agencies report that the overwhelming majority of the displaced persons who have come to America have adjusted or are adjusting successfully...
...By January 1, 1950, Canada had taken 79,000...
...Yet this infinitesimal addition to our population would go a long way toward the solution of the entire displaced persons problem...
...e e IN THEORY, there are four possible solutions to the Displaced Persons problem: - 1. The Displaced Persons could be compelled to live forever the half* life of uprooted people in these camps it we eared to be callous toward them and indifferent toward the American taxpayer...
...But the heart of America is big and when the people learned the facts, they joined together—regardless of religious affiliation or political party—to support the principle that America, too, must do her part...
...Roughly nine nfjllion Displaced Persons were able toYeturn to their native lands to try to pick up the threads of their disrupted lives...
...Even though UNRRA, the U. S. Army, the IRO and the various authorities and agencies did all in their power to help the Displaced Persons, their existence was, at best, grim and hopeless...
...Let us not be misled by those who would reject the whole because of a few exceptions to the rule...
...3. The Displaced Persons could be rounded up at bayonet point and forcibly returned to their native lands now under Soviet domination—if we were indifferent to the cause of justice and humanity or 4. The Displaced Persons could be resettled in other lands...
...The DP's were helped by great religious and welfare agencies in a manner unprecedented in our immigration history...
...At least one million were faced with a new form of totalitarianism and terror that had replaced the old...
...No guarantee of permanent homes could be extended: on the one hand, the conditions within their homelands grew steadily worse as the iron curtain was pulled more and more tightly across Europe...
...It is our sincere heartfelt conviction that without these amendments it is impossible for us to create a displaced persons law that will enable our nation to admit our share of displaced persons in a just, humane and fair way...
...Many of them were free to go home...
...Can we absorb more people into our American life, and can we do so advantageously...
...Less Than 1/10 of 1% DP's Refused Entry Are Hardly a Numerical Problem By SENATOR HERBERT H. LEHMAN ONE OF THE GREATEST human and moral problems of the 20th century, created by World War II, has been and still is that of the Displaced Persons...
...Some ten million human beings were driven from their homes, torn from their families, and herded into concentration camps or forced labor battalions by the Nazis...
...The telegram read: "As Americans we are deeply concerned that our country fulfill our moral obligation and international commitment to find new democratic homelands for the helpless displaced human beings under our care in Europe...
...on the other hand, these agencies did not have then—and IRO does not have now—any authority by which member nations could be compelled to open their doors to the Displaced Persons...
...All of these agencies were, in effect, conducting only a "holding operation...
...Let us do honor to ourselves, give benefit to our country, and reaffirm our intgerlty in the eyes of all men by strengthening, and liberalizing the Displaced Persons Act of 1948...
...I need not dwell on the details of the Displaced Persons' existence in these camps...
...It was they—men, women and children of a score of nationalities, a crosssection of the great religious faiths—¦ who were left behind when the possibilities of repatriation had been exhausted...
...This is where I, as Director General of UNRRA, first came into personal contact with the Displaced Persons problem—a problem which I am sorry to say has not yet been solved, but which I am sure this Congress can and will help to liquidate...
...Perhaps the viewpoint of these organizations is best expressed in a telegram, which was included in thiSenate Record late in February, but which bears repeating now because of its particular relevance...
...In other weeds, the testimony of almost every responsible stale official proves that the DP's have made and are continuing to make good records becoming a part of the fabric of our country, are a credit to themselves, and an asset to us...
...I know that statistics are a poor measure of human life...
...After being screened and re-screened, and complying with requirements much more stringent than our normal immigration rules, the Displaced Persons were met by friends and relatives...
...These alternatives were so self-evident that those nations in a position to do so began to open their gates...
...The Committee received clear, positive and affirmative answers, which exi pressed overwhelming satisfaction with the displaced persons on these and other points...
...There is hardly a responsible national organization which has not actively urged that this Congress amend the Act and abolish the injustices it perpetuates...
...It is a law full of obstacles and preferences, a law that is essentially unfair...
...Exactly like the ancestors of millions of Americans, the Displaced Persons yearned to be free, to raise their families, and to enjoy a full and productive life...
...These were the original Displaced Persons, the dispossessed and homeless to whom repatriation was a practical as well as a spiritual impossibility...
...By January 1, 1950, America had admitted only 169,000 Displaced Persons...
...On this issue, the requirements of honor and decenoy, the welfare of America, and the path of common sense, are all joined...
...Therefore we respectfully petition the members of the U. S. Senate to approve the substitute amendments to the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 presented by Senators Ferguson, Graham and Kilgore...
...These answers came from a wide variety of agencies...
...Some of the questions asked of these agencies were: Has the selection and fitness of the DP's been satisfactory in quality...
...The reason for this proportionately small number was the fact that we were comparatively slow in providing for the emigration of these people...
...The fact that the opponents of this legislation can point to only a few isolated exceptions is indirect proof that the overwhelming number have been completely and satisfactorily resettled...
...Their countries were d«uriinated directly or indirectly by the tyranny of the Soviet Politburo...
...The demand that these flaws be remedied has not come from an isolated few or from a single segment of our population...
...It was signed by a representative group of distinguished Americans...
...in the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which are so obvious that they have been almost universally condemned: the discriminatory and arbitrary cut-off date, the inadequate number of Displaced Persons admissible, the unfair priorities of 30 per cent to agriculturalists and 40 per cent to persons from annexed territories, and other features, most of which are remedied in the substitute amendment of which I am proud to be a co-sponsor...
...But for what such figures are worth, let us remember that the additional Displaced Persons who would be admitted under the terms of the minority substitute would be only 104,000 more than the number admissible under the present law—an increment of less than one-tenth of one per cent of our total population...
...A special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, under the able and objective leadership of Representative Walter of Pennsylvania, examined these religious and welfare agencies about their experiences with displaced persons...
...2. The Displaced Persons eampt could be closed and the Displaced Persons could be left to shift for themselves In the shambles of a shattered central European economy —if we were willing to Ignore the conflicts which would undoubtedly arise between the naturally resentful Displaced Person* and the hardpressed Indigenous populations of the affected areas...
...History was bitterly ironical...
...guarantee* of housing and jobs were made in advance so as to insure that the presence of the Displaced Persons in this country would not deprive American citizens of jobs or houses...
...To return to such lands meant, at the very least, certain deprivation of their cherished liberties, and, at the most, death...
...Under its terms, a limited number of Displaced Persons began to come in...
...Statements reaffirming the satisfactory adjustment made by displaced persons came from every region of the United States where these persons had been resettled...
...All that UNRRA, the U. S. Army and the IRO could dp was to keep them alive...
...AND THE RESULT is good...
...That kind of a life, however, could not be assured to these people by any of the successive international agencies set up to deal with this problem...
...BUT THE DP'S are doing this under the terms of a law that was basically cruel and deceptive...
...the United Kingdom had taken 100,000...
...These persons were again placed in camps and became the wards of the American, British and French authorities in Germany, Austria and Italy...
...In fact, because of the large migration to Israel, the Jewish part of the Displaced Persons problem has been virtually solved...
...These detailed and explicit state•ments are contained in the report of the special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, the so-called Walter Report, Issued on January 20, 1950...
Vol. 33 • April 1950 • No. 13
